Gonna keep going until he gets it right.
Carson Hocevar gave us one of the most electric celebrations in NASCAR history last weekend after winning his first career Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
After taking the checkered flag, Hocevar hopped out the window and sat on the door while driving his car all the way down the front stretch at Talladega to celebrate with fans:
Hocevar says it was an idea he’s had for a while, and something that meant a lot to him because it gave him the opportunity to celebrate with the fans:
“I just wanted to have something that was meaningful for me. And I feel like I’ve, I mean, obviously being a [Dale Earnhardt] Junior fan, I remember that iconic clip from, I think it was 2014 when he won the 500. I was there, but I remember he was inside the car, you know, went helmet off and enjoying the fans going backwards.
But the fans, they don’t really get to know if we hear them or see them and everything. So I had thought of just like, man, I have really long legs. I wonder if I can hit the throttle and sit on the door and ride and just kind of see everybody. I just wanted them to get as loud as possible, and I felt like they would if they could see me seeing them. And yeah, I mean, ultimately, I just wanted to make sure I soaked it in.”
Well fans obviously loved the celebration, which even caught the attention of sports media that typically doesn’t cover NASCAR and brought a ton of attention to the sport. But as it turns out, Hocevar himself wasn’t completely satisfied with the performance.
During his drive down the front stretch, fans tried tossing Hocevar a beer to celebrate, but he wasn’t quite able to snag any of them. But he says he plans to continue running the celebration back until he’s finally able to catch one:
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to have to do this every time.’ And I’m all in on doing it on Sundays. I’m all in until I catch whatever they throw at me, and then I’m done with it. Cause it’s not finished, and I think that would just be super fun. I just feel like it’s unfinished, of that almost opportunity of doing it for me.”
Jeff Gluck, NASCAR reporter for The Athletic, pointed out that by saying that Hocevar was probably opening the floodgates for fans to try throwing a beer to him while he’s celebrating in the future, which is apparently something the driver didn’t think about:
“Oh shit. Just one person with good aim. Just one person.”
Yeah, I have a feeling it’s not just going to be one person now.
Of course, after last weekend many were concerned that the celebration would be banned altogether. But NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell confirmed that he’s a fan of it (as he should be – it’s great for the sport and brought a ton of attention to NASCAR) and that the sport has no plans to keep Hocevar from running it back:
“I’m good with it.”
We’ll see how many times it takes for Hocevar to finally make the midair grab. I have a feeling he’ll have plenty of chances in the future now that his first win is out of the way.
